Decision on Townsend church delayed until February

TOWNSEND -- The Planning Board has delayed until February a decision on a special permit for St. John's the Evangelist Parish because the board did not have enough members at its meeting Monday night.

Jeanne Hollows, the Planning Board administrator, said four members of the board must be present to vote on a special-permit application, as deemed by state law. The board has two vacancies and only four active members, and one of them was not at the meeting.

As a result, she said, the board could not close the hearing and vote on the application. Instead, all of the information presented Monday night will be forwarded to the absent member, who must review it and sign off on it before the public hearing can be closed.

The two-story church activity center at St. John the Evangelist Parish on School Street was destroyed Dec. 29, 2011, after a fire that started in a garage next door spread to the center.

The activity center, valued at just over a quarter of a million dollars, was considered a total loss by Fire Chief Donald Klein, and the home attached to the garage was severely damaged.

There were no injuries, but the blaze displaced dozens of local groups that used the parish center to hold meetings and gatherings.

The Rev. Jeremy St. Martin, who is listed as the applicant for the special permit, hopes to build a 38-foot-by-90-foot, two-story parish center at the church for meetings and social gatherings.

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The application previously went before the Board of Selectmen, who referred it to the Planning Board to be considered.

The public hearing will likely be closed at the board's meeting of Feb. 28, and as long as all four members are present, a vote will be taken.

St. Martin, whose assignment as pastor of the church began just two days after the fire, said that it's an exciting time for the church.

"It presents a lot of positive opportunities for the parish," he said. "This will allow us to continue the critical services we provide. We're trying to rebuild in a timely fashion. The services we provide aren't going away."

Ultimately, he said, it's less about the building and more about the variety of programs the building allows the church to run.

"The building is the means to the end," he said. "I wouldn't say I'm excited about the building as much as I am about the services we can provide as a result. The goal is driven by the people we're serving and the needs of the church."

Currently, there is a worship hall, administrative building, function hall and temporary meeting space provided in temporary trailers. The proposed addition will replace the trailers and have meeting spaces on the lower and upper levels.

Temporary buildings have been sitting on the property to help continue the services, but St. Martin said insurance will only cover the cost of them for another four months, and the church does not have the means to continue paying for them.

The temporary buildings cost about $3,000 a month to house, he said.

"The frugal solution is to build," he said. "We're building in a way which is very simple so that it can be in keeping with our economic ability while being timely."

St. Martin anticipates the cost to rebuild is about $800,000.

The insurance money received from the fire will cover at least a third of the cost of the new building, he said, and the church has qualified for a loan to cover the remaining costs.

In a report prepared by Jesse Johnson of David Ross Associates, he says that new sidewalk access is being proposed to both levels of the building, which will also be handicapped-accessible to both levels from the main parking lot. There is no plan to add additional parking, and traffic patterns for the site will remain the same.

Johnson said the town's zoning requirements call for 60 parking spaces at the site, and there is currently room for 67 cars.

A new parking lot will be provided off School Street that will allow for access to the lower level from the School Street side. The existing curb will be widened.

The new building is expected to be 3,430 square feet.

Johnson also wrote in his report that there is no anticipated flooding impact to any of the abutting properties.

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